to have created a scene in Chez Gerard

[margoandjerry]

Chez Gerard have just opened up on the high st in our small suburban town - it used to be a Cafe Uno which was always very family friendly.

I just went in there (3pm) with my mum and with the baby in pram - the place is huge and was 3/4 empty. The manager came and told us the pram would have to be folded or we would have to leave but a) it doesn't fold much as it's a bugaboo and b) the baby was asleep and would have slept all through lunch and c) it was not in the way at all so why?

He said it would get in the way of wheelchairs (of course there was no one in there in a wheelchair) but there was stacks of room anyway - you could have got a Red Arrows style squadron of wheelchairs through there. They had finished with lunch and there were only about 5 tables in use in the whole place. I said that we used to go there all the time when it was Cafe Uno which is owned by the same group and I even showed him where we used to sit, right at the back away from everyone and not causing the remotest obstruction.

He kept offering a high chair but the baby is too small for that and anyway, was fast asleep. I was furious and ranted away at him and all he could say was "it's company policy".

I wouldn't mind if this was in the City and full of adults at lunchtime or in the evening and full of people wanting a quiet meal together but it was in the middle of the afternoon, quiet as death and the baby was fast asleep.

I think this whole "you'll have to fold the buggy" thing is code for "no babies". Got the same attitude in Baker and Spice last week as well which made me even madder given Baker and Spice's target market which I assume to be posh mums.

I shouldn't really be bothered as we went down the road to a really nice local restaurant (not a chain) instead. Had a lovely meal and were made to feel very welcome. Also just remembered that I saw a mouse once in the Chez Gerard in Covent Garden. Pah. They are incompetent fools.

Obviously I don't want to invade margoandjerry's privacy but...
Is there any reason for us not to know which Chez Gerard it was ?

so do you have to fold wheelchairs as well?

she's said it already DC

(in fact, I looked in today and I saw lots of children/babies in there!)

maisy - I'm assuming not as my dh's wheelchair doesn't fold. Would they throw him out? Based on today's anecdote they might try There's no freaking way I'd take a sleeping child out of a buggy, esp in a virtually empty restaurant.

tripot - hoping they wouldn't but if they ask for prams/pushchairs to be folded perhaps space is a problem. what about larger pushchairs for special needs?

why common sense can't be used sometimes...

Normally I'd be with tribpot, but...
DS2 from 6 months to about 2 had a really impressive scream. It left ripples in coffee, and could keep it up for extended periods by pacing himself. This resulted in pauses, then screams just as you thought he'd calmed down.

Was actually vaguely scary, sounded more predator than helpless baby.

If some minimum wage jerk started screwing with me like that, the option of waking him would get very attractive.

its all very well if you can lift your sleeping baby out of the pram and hold them still sleeping... DS wouldn't allow that however! ANd - how lovely to have the chance of a sleeping baby + meal out! Manager was a twonk.

One thing Minim left out was the £10 voucher available for those prepared to give their opinions direct to the company
clicky here
Maybe someone didn't fancy addressing all those envelopes.

Haven't read through the whole thread so I appologise if I'm repeating what somebody else has said. No I don't think you are being unreasonable at all! They wouldn't ask a disabled person to get out of their wheelchairs and fold them up, would they? Yet it's perfectly acceptable for them to expect you to wake a sleeping baby, fold a pram and then do what? Where does the baby go? On the floor? On the table perhaps? What a moron that man was!

I would have been fuming if I were you, and if you have the time I would either write/email/ring HQ to complain about it. Don't go back, take your money elsewhere. Somewhere that IS family friendly.

Please complain to the Head Office. I can't bear this mealy mouthed way of weaselling out of serving mums and kids whilst apparently advertising "child friendliness". I will certainly be avoiding Chez Gerard until they apologise to you properly!

As others have said, I'm all for having child-free restaurants when you're looking for a rare evening out with dh but somewhere like this, mid-afternoon, should be doing everything possible to accommodate all its clients.

i went into this chez gerard in ted*ton with my two DDs the other day too...
wasn't made to feel welcome at all!
and my two are delightful well behaved angels (well most of the time) who walked in calmly and nicely

they looked at me like "oh great"...

and as you say ted*ton is full of mums and babies... they are going to have to widen the pavement. let's open a mums & tots cafe. badly needed.

You were not being unreasonable given the place was mostly empty and the baby was sleeping...

We got thrown out of All Bar One when DS1 was 3 weeks old, it was a nice summer's day and were sitting outside. DH was at the bar getting our drinks and they saw DS and me so we got thrown out (even though DSs only drink was bm).

Boycooted it for a while, but occassionally before DS2 arrived and when DS1 was at nursery we would go there for child-free time...

We were at W*n's in King's Lynn and walked out becase we were one table away from their "family area" and they asked us to move. DH was at the bar, and they expected me to move myself, our bags, DS2, 4 winter coats, and they didn't even offer to help.

Food is c*p anyway, ended up at Cafe N*o!

that's appaling, what if you were a first time mum out for a treat? I feel like emailing chez gerard myself and never been in one in my life!

appalling spelling

margoandjerry
you should e-mail them a link to this thread.

We tried to go to Chex G in Ted*ton the first weekend it was open with dd (4) and ds (7 wks) - first we were told there were no high chairs available (what a nice welcome!) but then told no buggies allowed in the restaurant when I said we didn't need a high chair, just room to put the buggy.

Even if I had been able to leave the buggy outside I'm not sure where exactly they expected me to put it - there were already 2 either side of the doorway!

DH wrote to their head office to complain the next day, but we've had no response yet and that was a couple of weeks ago now.

I do have some sympathy with a restaurant who space for buggies/prams is already full, but Chez Gerard does rather seem as if it has a culture of not wanting kids.
As such it is not surprising that although Chez Gerard now know about the problems people are having with them they have chosen not to respond.

it is fine for restaurants to not want kids...
but then don't have a children's menu
don't have highchairs
etc...

btw
i went for a meal there with dh the other evening
had a lovely meal
expensive though! £8.60 for a glass of wine ...

Yes i agree, if i go into a restaurant and its full then i would prefer to go somewhere quieter anyway.
If they can accommodate you then they should.
My dh used to go on about units and covers, shop talk just bores me.

I've been refused entry twice to Ask restaurants - in different parts of the country - when we wanted to eat in the early evening. My children were of secondary school age! I'm sure that going to a pizza restaurant with a teenager must be very offputting for the adults!

Must be said that I don't see any moral obligation for a restaurant to take kids, especially if they fear that that it will drive away other customers. It doesn't even have to be a reasonable fear of screaming.
I don't see eating at CG as some sort of human right.

However I don't think that's the Chez Gerard position, but instead a failure in their quality control in selecting and training staff.
Things that piss off paying customers aren't "wrong", they are stupid. Of course what is good for CG shareholders is not the same as what makes an overpromoted "manager" happy.

But economics tells us of agency theory. This is the difference between what you pay people for, and what they actually do.
CG shareholders just want the cash, and don't care if they sell wine at 10 quid a glass or chips at a pound a bag, as long as that makes more money.
The manager on the other hand may well be "proud" of a quiet restaurant that has a few beautiful people in it. It is of course possible to make good money that way but although CG is a bit upmarket, it's not so pricey so that it can get by with tiny numbers of customers. The manager's bonus should be set to reflect this.

A trick in management is to set the right
incentives, as well as picking good staff.

Chez Gerard have screwed up big time in this case. That doesn't make them bad people of course, but bad senior managers tend to have shorter less lucrative careers...

I'm with everyone, this sounds mad. Gosh, if I was Chez Gerard I'd be apologising pdq before most of Mumsnet boycott them. Or maybe that's the idea?

lol at cloak and daggerness of somewhereinmiddlesexwithalock plac

I've had this exact thing - being asked to fold pram with sleeping baby in in a half-empty restaurant where by no stretch of the imagination was it an obstruction. and even a promise to move it should it start being an obstruction wasn't enough. I wish I could remember where it was (wasn't Chez Gerard). I found myself taking the piss rather than getting angry - it was so ludicrous all I could do was laugh. and leave.